The good spot : Expedit, Vienna, Austria

I guess at this point I might as well confess to the fact I tend to end up eating italian wherever I go (Japan, you hear me, I love you, but adapting to your food was no picnic, but I’ll come back to that in due time).

Flashback to Vienna, a few months ago. I did not fall in love with Austria’s traditional cuisine, even though I tried some for good measure. This felt like a good excuse to give that Ligurian restaurant a try.

I knew from experience that the more region-centric Italian restaurant are, generally the better, so this one sounded good already.

But let’s start with the place itself, since this is where the Viennese magic helps the Italian one out.
Let me tell you that the Viennese are very good at interior design. Not only is it often well-executed, but it’s also very personal, you don’t quite feel like they would do it the same way somewhere else.

The restaurant is set up in a former textile warehouse, in a quiet and rather posh street of the northern Innere Stadt (the old town). Its long and vast space has retained its original industrial shelves which are now stocked with Italian products…but not over-stocked. See, here we like it airy, but not cold though, hence the wooden communal table and the very intimate lighting. Just like the rest of the city at night, the restaurant’s lights were surprisingly dim: what a brilliant way to transfigure an industrial space.

And the food? very, very good. We’ve tasted quite a lot of Italian food, but this one was really one of the best. They have a very nice antipasti menu where you can pick a set of (not so classic) dishes that are served in big plate, to share…or not!